Ryan Says He Gave ‘Several Years’ of Tax Returns to Romney Camp

U.S. Representative Paul Ryan’s addition to the Republican ticket will change the dynamics of the presidential race in its closing months and give President Obama the opportunity to sharpen the lines of attack he’s already used in the race against Romney. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/ Getty Images

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of
Wisconsin said he provided “several years” of tax records to
Mitt Romney’s campaign as part of its vetting process for
choosing a running mate on the Republican presidential ticket.

Ryan also said he planned to release two years of his tax
records to the public, as Romney has pledged to do. Democrats
and even some Republicans have called on Romney to release more
years of his returns.

“It was a very exhaustive vetting process,” Ryan said
when asked about the tax issue in a joint interview with Romney
on the CBS program “60 Minutes” that aired last night. “There
were several years” of returns that he turned over, he said.

“But I’m going to release the -- the same amount of years
that Governor Romney has” for public review, he added.

Romney, 65, has shared one year of personal income tax
returns, from 2010, showing that he paid an effective tax rate
of 13.9 percent on investment income that year. He has promised
to release his 2011 returns when his accountants are finished
preparing them.

“What I hear from people around this country, they’re not
asking” about tax returns, said Ryan, 42. “They’re asking
where the jobs are.”

Presidential candidates have been inconsistent in the
number of returns they have made public. Ronald Reagan made
seven years available; George H.W. Bush released three years;
and Romney’s father, George, made 12 years of returns public
when he ran for president in 1968.

Medicare ‘Robbed’

In a portion of the interview that didn’t air on the show,
Romney said President Barack Obama “robbed” Medicare to pay
for the health-care legislation he pushed through Congress in
2010.

Romney made the claim when asked about the political risk
of picking Ryan as his running mate. As chairman of the House
Budget Committee, Ryan has led efforts to revamp Medicare, the
government health-insurance program for the elderly.

“There’s only one president that I know of in history that
robbed Medicare, $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of
his own that we call Obamacare,” Romney responded, according to
excerpts of the interview released by CBS.

The interview was the first joint one for the newly formed
Republican ticket since Romney announced Ryan as his running-mate pick Aug. 11 in Virginia.

Saving Medicare

“What Paul Ryan and I have talked about is saving
Medicare, is providing people greater choice in Medicare, making
sure it’s there for current seniors,” Romney said. “No
changes, by the way, for current seniors, or those nearing
retirement. But looking for young people down the road and
saying, ‘We’re going to give you a bigger choice.’ In America,
the nature of this country has been giving people more freedom,
more choices.”

Stephanie Cutter, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said on
the CBS program “Face the Nation” yesterday that the president
has done nothing to harm Medicare.

“You know I heard Mitt Romney deride the $700 billion cuts
in Medicare that the president achieved through health-care
reform,” she said. “You know what those cuts are? It’s taking
subsidies away from insurance companies. Taking rebates away
from prescription drug companies. Is that what Mitt Romney wants
to protect?”

Private Coverage

Ryan has proposed replacing Medicare with a plan giving the
elderly a fixed amount of money to buy private coverage. The
theory is that competition among health insurers for their
business will bring down spiraling costs. Since his initial
proposal, he has softened the plan to offer the elderly a choice
between the traditional Medicare and the fixed subsidies.

“My mom is a Medicare senior in Florida,” Ryan said in
the excerpts CBS released but didn’t air on the program. “Our
point is we need to preserve their benefits, because government
made promises to them that they’ve organized their retirements
around. In order to make sure we can do that, you must reform it
for those of us who are younger. And we think these reforms are
good reforms.”

Romney said he picked Ryan because he was impressed by his
understanding of the issues, his “political acumen,” and his
family.

Ryan said Romney told him that he was being picked because
the two men “share the same values” and that he has “the
kinds of experiences that complement his skills.”